Section 3
soldiers who led military expeditions in the Americas
Conquistadors
This conquistador heard rumors of the Inca cities in the Andes of South America. He had fewer than 400 men in his army. But the Inca, like the Aztec, had no weapons to match the conquistadors’ swords and guns. Though outnumbered, his troops captured the great Inca capital at Cuzco in present-day Peru and killed the Inca leaders.
Francisco Pizarro
An explorer that traveled through Florida. Royal officials the coastal region of the Gulf of Mexico, and his expedition landed in an area near the present-day city of Tampa Bay, Florida in 1539. This explorer also ventured through what is now Georgia, the Carolinas, the Appalachian Mountains, and present-day Oklahoma. He died in 1542 on this journey.
Hernando de Soto
Settlers who came from Spain that usually held the highest government positions
Peninsulares
A German priest that publicly criticized the Roman Catholic Church. He charged that the church was too wealthy and that it abused its power.
Martin Luther
Who founded the Church of England, or the Anglican Church, and by making himself the head of the church, he challenged the authority of the pope and angered Catholics?
King Henry VIII
In 1524, France sent an Italian captain to seek a Northwest Passage. This captain sailed along the coast of North America from present-day North Carolina to Maine.
Giovanni da Verrazano
This English colonist and 150 resettled Roanoke in 1587. This colonist's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was the first English colonist born in North America. He went back to England to get more supplies. When he came back, he found the colony deserted.
John White
A Conquistador that left Cuba to sail to present-day Mexico in 1519. This man had heard of a wealthy land to the west ruled by a king named Moctezuma II. He only had 508 soldiers, about 100 sailors, 16 horses, and some guns. Surprisingly, he eventually conquered the Aztecs with his allies and European weapons.
Hernán Cortés
What was Spain's large North American empire called?
New Spain
In 1528 which explorer joined conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez on an expedition to North America? His boat shipwrecked on the journey to North America on what is now Galveston Island in Texas.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
This gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or to make them work. In exchange, these settlers were supposed to protect the Native American people and convert them to Christianity.
Encomienda System
This religious movement began in small German towns but quickly spread to most of Europe. It became a part of many political disputes as well.
Protestant Reformation
In the late 1500s, who used Spain’s great wealth to lead a Catholic Reformation against the Protestant movement? He hoped to drive the Protestants out of England.
King Philip II
A French sailor who led France’s next major exploration of North America. He made two trips to what is now Canada. This sailor also sailed into the Saint Lawrence River and traveled all the way to present-day Montreal, claiming the areas he explored for France.
Jacques Cartier
In 1673 which two French explorers set out to find a great river described to them, the Mississippi? (Hernando de Soto was the first European to find the Mississippi River, in 1541.) They reached the river and traveled down it as far as present-day Arkansas.
Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette
This king ruled the Aztec Empire, which was at the height of its power in the early 1500s. This king's capital, Tenochtitlán, was built in the middle of Lake Texcoco, near the present-day site of Mexico City. At first this king believed Cortés to be a god and welcomed him. Cortés then took this king prisoner and seized control of Tenochtitlán.
Moctezuma II
The council at the top of the system of royal officials that was formed in 1524 to govern the Americas from Spain
Council of the Indies
The conquistador that Cabeza de Vaca joined on an expedition in 1528. Their group of 300 men first landed on the Florida coast. They faced many severe problems, including a shortage of food.
Pánfilo de Narváez
large farms that grew just one kind of crop
Plantations
reformers who protested some of the Catholic Church’s practices and believed that God meant for religion to be simple
Protestants
a huge fleet of warships meant to end English plans
Spanish Armada
The Dutch hired an English captain to find a Northwest Passage. He first sailed to present-day New York in 1609. The following year this returned to North America, sailing under the English flag. He traveled far to the north. Eventually he reached a strait that he hoped would lead to the Pacific Ocean. Instead, it led into a huge bay, later named Hudson Bay.
Henry Hudson
Nine years after Louis Jolliet's and Jacques Marquette's expedition this explorer followed the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the Mississippi Valley for King Louis XIV of France. To honor the king, this explorer named the region Louisiana.
René-Robert de La Salle
Capital of the Aztec Empire
Tenochtitlán
This network of roads ran for hundreds of miles, from Mexico City to Santa Fe, built by Spanish settlers to connect some of the scattered communities of New Spain The roads later stretched to settlements in California.
El Camino Real
This Moroccan-born enslaved man was shipwrecked on what is now Galveston island along with his Spanish slaveholder, Cabeza de Vaca, and another sailor. He and the other 3 survivors were enslaved by a Native American Group until they escaped 6 years later. They also eventually reached a Spanish settlement in 1536. Then, this man was sold by his slaveholder to a viceroy and the viceroy made this man act as a guide for future expeditions.
Estevanico
What played a major role in the interactions of the Spanish with Native Americans?
The Catholic Church
a machine that produces printed copies using movable type that helped spread the ideas of the Reformation
The Printing Press
a water route through North America that would allow ships to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Northwest Passage
Who received a charter, a document giving him permission to start a colony in North America? In 1584 he sent an expedition that landed in present-day Virginia and North Carolina. He named the entire area Virginia. He also sent another group to found a colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina
Walter Raleigh
The Dutch man that bought Manhattan Island from local Native Americans for about $24. He then founded the town of New Amsterdam, now New York City. He bought Manhattan Island from local Native Americans for about $24. He then founded the town of New Amsterdam, now New York City.
Peter Minuit
An Indian woman that helped Cortés win allies and conquer the Aztec Empire.
Malintzin
In 1508 this explorer landed on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. By 1511 he had conquered the island for Spain and founded the city of San Juan. He also discovered gold on Puerto Rico. Spanish officials appointed him governor of the colony. In 1512 this explorer discovered the coast of present-day Florida. The next year he searched Florida for a mythical Fountain of Youth. Though he never found the fabled fountain, he acquired royal permission to colonize Florida
Juan Ponce de León
Which explorer set out to explore the North American Southwest? He wanted to find the legendary Seven Cities of Gold that were rumored to exist there. His expedition went through present-day New Mexico and Arizona, where a group of his men discovered the Grand Canyon. He trekked through Texas and Oklahoma, going as far north as Kansas before turning around, but never found the fabled cities of gold.
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Who played a major role in the interactions of the Spanish with Native Americans?
Bartolomé de Las Casas
French Protestants eventually emigrated to the Americas in search of religious freedom
Huguenots
Which Italian sailor knew that the king of England wanted to find such a route like the Northwest Passage? He offered to pay for his own expedition, asking only that the king of England grant him a royal charter to any lands he found. The king agreed, and He made voyages to North America for England in 1497 and 1498. It is believed that he traveled along the coast of present-day Newfoundland in Canada. His expeditions became the basis of England’s claim to land in North America.
John Cabot
a document that grants permission to start a colony
Charter
The governor of New Netherland who conquered New Sweden in 1655. He allowed the Swedes to continue their colony, but he called it the “Swedish Nation.”
Peter Stuyvesant